To Catch a Killer

To Catch a Killer is a 2023 American crime thriller film directed by Damián Szifron and written by Szifron and Jonathan Wakeham. It stars Shailene Woodley, Ben Mendelsohn, Jovan Adepo and Ralph Ineson. In the film, a talented but troubled young Baltimore cop is recruited by the FBI to help profile and track down a murderer. The film marks Szifron's English-language debut. Vertical Entertainment gave it a limited theatrical release on April 21, 2023, and it received mixed reviews from critics. Plot On New Year's Eve in Baltimore, a sniper begins killing random revelers at a variety of roof-top parties, using firework explosions as cover. Beat cop Eleanor Falco is among those who responds, helping move survivors to safety. Police identify the shooter’s location as an apartment overlooking the area, just before it explodes. Eleanor rushes to the exit of the building, where residents are streaming out, and helps capture video of potential suspects leaving the scene. She then follows firemen and members into the building, and despite heavy smoke, climbs the 17 stories to the apartment without a gasmask. SWAT clears the apartment, and determines that no one has died there. Eleanor climbs to the exposed edge and nearly falls to her death as she passes out from smoke inhalation. At the police headquarters, the manhunt commences, led by Special Agent Lammark of the FBI. After reminding the officers to think careful about who they perceive the shooter to be, Lammark meets Eleanor in the break room, and is impressed by her perceptiveness. The next morning, Lammark requests that Eleanor meet him for coffee, where he explains that he wants her, along with fellow officer Jack McKenzie, to work directly with him as liaisons with the Baltimore police during the investigation. They both accept.